It Takes Two to Tango
by LittleMissNobody123
Summary: Modern love story between Tom and Sybil. It doesn't follow the story of Downton Abbey at all really I'm afraid but I hope you like it! Rated T for now.
1. Chapter 1 - Starbucks and studios

Why was he here? Why was he voluntarily going to put himself through physical pain and public humiliation? He was a writer for goodness sake, he didn't need the money. He didn't need the recognition. This was all Matthew's fault, he was the one who signed him up for this. Perhaps he could turn back, he could tell them that he never knew that he'd been signed up and that it was all his room mate's idea of a practical joke. No, he hated lying to people like that and he was pretty sure that the company would be less than impressed if he pulled out at this late stage. Nope, he was just going to have to bite the bullet and get on with it. Hopefully he'd be unpopular and be freed quickly but who knew. He supposed he could fake an injury but the again if he was caught at the pub on a Saturday night fit and healthy he'd be in for it. Nope, that was it, he couldn't turn the car around now and he couldn't go back. He couldn't slink back into the warm cocoon of his duvet and sleep the day away. This was going to be his life for a while now. 7am starts and sleepy drives through London. He needed a Starbucks... And fast.

He drove a little further, there was a Starbucks 5 minutes from his destination and he was definitely in need of some caffeine. Pulling into the car park and walking through the door the heat of the coffee shop hit him and he smiled at the delicious smell of freshly ground coffee. Yes, just what he needed on a cold morning. He looked around him, the only other people awake at this time were balding jobaholics and young professionals trying to fit in every extra hour they could to scrape enough money together to pay the rent. Safe to say he didn't miss those days. He smiled politely at the lady behind the counter and ordered himself a Caramel Macchiato with a little extra milk, stirred twice and covered in a dusting of cocoa powder to kick-start his day.

He headed out of the door with his coffee and sat in his car with his newspaper for a few minutes, wondering if he'd have much time for such trivial relaxation over the coming weeks and months. He sipped on his Caramel Macchiato for a little while before he decided he couldn't hold it off any longer and turned the keys in the ignition. The car roared to life and he pulled out of the Starbucks car park.

* * *

Sybil sat on the floor with her eyes closed and pressed play again. The room filled with music and she swayed slightly from side to side, visualising the moves in her head. It wasn't long before she was up and about darting gracefully around the room in time to the music. She had worked on this dance for so long and she finally wanted to be able to perform it with her partner. She smiled happily as she pranced around the room until the end of the song. When the song had finished she turned to the window and sighed. She wanted someone better this year. She wanted to have a chance in the competition this year. Maybe this year was her time, every other year she'd been lumped with the guy who had two left feet or someone so old she could barely do the most simple of steps in fear of throwing his hip out. She shook her head and groaned, she'd get another useless partner she could tell. Someone who was probably 104 years old, decaying and moved with a zimmer frame. Why did she put herself through this? She could be doing something that reaped so many more rewards than being knocked out before the competition had even started.

She sighed before turning back to the room before her. Pushing the play button, she broke into song and danced along to the next track.

* * *

"Okay Tom, so you understand the whole procedure, I assume you've watched the show before?" asked the woman with a clipboard who was in charge of making sure people like him knew what they were doing and where they should be.

Tom looked sheepish, "I'm embarrassed to say I haven't, it was my room mate who signed me up for this actually!"

The woman smiled kindly, "Well it's all really quite simple. You will be working for 6 weeks before the live shows, so you can learn the ins and outs, then we parade you off to the public!" she chuckled, "Today is the start of those 6 weeks and I'm not going to lie to you, it isn't going to be easy." Tom nodded, he knew that when Matthew had told him he'd be on the show.

"Now" she said smiling, "Are you ready to meet your partner?"

This was the moment Tom had been dreading. He followed the woman down the corridor wondering what his partner would be like. She was probably going to be some pretentious, stuck up little cow who thought she could boss him around. One of those girls that thinks she's way prettier than she actually is. These were his final thoughts when the woman pushed the door open to the studio room and he saw his partner. It took all the power he could muster to stop his jaw dropping and his eyes popping out of his head. He had been so wrong. She was a goddess, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Startling blue eyes like sapphires and the most gorgeous brown curls. She had luscious curves and Tom knew right then that his heart had been claimed by this temptress. All of a sudden six weeks cooped up in a dance studio with one person didn't seem so bad.

The woman smiled and walked over, "Hello it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Sybil Crawley. Welcome to Strictly Come Dancing!"

* * *

**Just a short one to start you all off! I'm not sure if this story will be very good but all reviews are welcome. For our American friends reading this, if you are not sure what Strictly Come Dancing is it is the same as Dancing with the stars. A programme where celebrities compete against each other with a professional dance partner performing ballroom and latin dances. Anyway, hopefully I'll update soon.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Dancing and Doughnuts

**As ever I apologise for the delay but sometimes life just gets in the way! Hope you enjoy.**

He'd never really been a believer in love at first sight. He'd loathed Romeo and Juliet when he was at school like most kids, but not for the language used and the way the characters spoke, to him such a plot line was ridiculous. For him the idea of falling in love in just one day was even greater fantasy than stories of time travel or magic. Yet now he found himself disagreeing. Perhaps it was possible. It was like the line from that Monkees song, "Then I saw her face, now I'm a believer" and if any face was going to make him believe it was hers. She was stunning. She was a petite brunette, her hair fastened into a messy bun a top her head with grips fastening loose strands into place. Her eyes were a sapphire blue that sparkled like the most expensive of diamonds and her cheeks were a light pink and dotted with a few freckles. Her lips pulled into a beautiful smile and there may as well have been a halo of light surrounding her head because she most certainly looked like a goddess. His jaw had dropped slightly at the sight of her and he was unsure how he managed to form the words "Tom Branson, pleased to meet you" and let them fall from his lips.

She smiled back at him and little did he know that similar thoughts were running through her head. His auburn hair was the most beautiful colour she had ever seen and the way he styled it so that it fell perfectly into place was breathtaking. His eyes were the colour of the ocean and she could easily stare into them and get lost forever. His jawline was firm and masculine and his lips screamed kiss me now. She could already see through his thin t-shirt that he had impressive muscle and his forearms were too die for... She was suddenly very hot and quickly diverted her eyes to try and settle the fluttering in her stomach.

"So Mr Branson" she smiled encouragingly; hoping to hide the blush rising to her cheeks, "What am I dealing with here? Are you an absolute novice or do you have some dance experience?"

He chuckle at her and her heart melted at the sound as well as his delicious Irish accent, "I'm afraid that I know sod all about dancing, I work on the basis that I won't even go near a dance floor until I've got at least a couple of guinesses down me" he teased with a twinkle in his eye.

She giggled, "I'm afraid we have no guiness here... Can I sway you with a lucozade?" she tormented back.

He smiled happy that she had a sense of humour and that they had easily fallen into banter even though they were still practically strangers.

Sybil watched him for a moment, chewing on her lip pondering whether or not to ask the question, she felt a fool for asking her celebrity dance partner this but she was intrigued and she wanted to avoid even more embarrassment at a later date.

"I am so sorry, this is probably very ignorant of me but may I ask what it is that you do?" Sybil asked tentatively.

He chuckled, "Of course, I'm terribly sorry, I'm a singer" he smiled, "Singer, songwriter, musician, whatever you want to call it... I'm part of a band from Dublin. We're called The Script!"

"Woah, that's amazing" she exclaimed, genuinely impressed as she always was of people with a singing talent for she herself could hardly hold a note, "How many of you are there? What kind of music do you play?" she asked eagerly.

"Four of us... Me, Danny, Mark and Glen. I'd see we're kind of alternative rock!"

"Wow, anything I'd have heard of?" she asked sweetly

He smiled at her innocence, "The man who can't be moved is one of our most famous songs."

And he definitely would wait an eternity for her.

* * *

"You didn't" she threw her head back laughing, after a morning full of basic training and steps they were taking a break with a cup of tea and a doughnut.

"I did" he smiled at how much it amused her, that laugh was definitely the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard, "I was only about 7 at the time, but the teacher was horrible, he was always picking on me and Dan so I got a load of frogs from the pond near my house and put them in his car. Gave him a right fright when he got in. I was in so much trouble for that one" he chuckled at the memory.

Sybil laughed even harder. She was trying to picture a mischievous 7 year old Tom... It definitely sounded like his mother had her hands full as he regaled her with stories of his rebellious youth, his big ambitions and how he decisively pointed out at the age of 5 that one day he would be world famous and change the world. The more he spoke and the more tales he told, the more she found her stomach flutter. Was it possible for someone to be so perfect?

She had the perfect dance partner and she was even more determined to stay in the competition for as many weeks as possible. That way she could spend every day with him, she'd get to dance with him and hold him close and, she decided, she'd get the chance to make him fall in love with her. That she was determined to do.

* * *

**Okay, just want to say that The Script are my favourite band ever and I wanted to include them in this story so yes, THIS IS HAPPENING.**


	3. Chapter 3 - First day waltzing

Hope4 weeks later...

Their getting to know each other period was over and already Tom and Sybil felt like they'd known each other for years. They'd quickly fallen into a routine of meeting everyday for dancing practice - Sybil having spent the first four weeks teaching him the basics - and then taking breaks at regular intervals to chat and laugh and fool around. Sybil had never been so happy and Tom believed he had never connected with someone as quickly as he had with Sybil, already having given her the nickname Syb. Their routine included eating lunch together and twice a week have dinner together something which as the weeks progressed was becoming more regular sometimes three or four times a week. The two had become inseparable. They had quickly discovered how much they had in common be it their love for history and politics or their adoration for all Disney films, knowing the scripts and the songs off by heart. Even when they weren't together they found themselves texting each other with jokes or tweeting each other interesting articles or tasty looking recipes that they thought the other may like. Tom also found himself practicing his dance moves when he was home alone even if it was just for the look of delight on her face when he correctly performed a move or the pride she felt when he pronounced the dance term correctly. She had never had such a diligent pupil. She'd never had such a handsome one either but that she was less open to admitting to him.

However now it was time to get a little more serious. This Saturday Tom would be taking part in his first live show and they would be dancing their first routine in front of other people.

Their first dance in the competition was to be a waltz and it was on their first day of proper training that Tom fell in love with dancing. With one hand placed on Sybil's waist and the other hand laced with Sybil's it was hard not to be in love with dancing. The fact that he would get to spend most of his week locked in such an embrace filled Tom with delight and he often found their embrace getting closer and closer.

The song that she had chosen was a perfect one, it being A Thousand Years by Christina Peri and Tom found himself easily serenading her with the words.

"I have died everyday waiting for you. Darling don't be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years, I'd love you for a thousand more."

Tom believed the words of the song had some significance to their relationship and even though it had only been a short period of time Tom was sure that this was love. After all he had never had such feelings for anyone ever and his heart threatened to leap out of his chest every second that he spent with her.

Sybil stopped the music and brushed her hair out of her face and smiled at him.

"I think we should practice it again but this time without the music" she said smiling.

Grabbing her hand and swiftly pulling her into him, Tom decided to be bold and moved her so that their cheeks were practically touching before gently humming the tune to the song and leading her round the room. They swayed gently for a moment before Tom's feet moved gently backwards and Sybil mirrored his steps as they began to swirl and twirl around the room. Suddenly hit by a wave of inspiration Tom spun her with one hand and watched her as she elegantly rotated on the spot.

Their pace increased as he guided her around the room and suddenly he pulled her so that all of her weight was on his right arm and leaning to his right he held her a foot above the floor. He was supporting all of her weight and he could easily have dropped her at any second but his strong, muscular arms made her feel secure. His lips were inches away from hers and their breathing was heavy as they gazed into each others eyes.


End file.
